


Stardew Chronicles

by fancylances



Category: Stardew Valley (Video Game)
Genre: F/M, Fantasy Violence, Solarion Chronicles AU, farmer pepper, it's not really a fantasy au if magic already exists
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-11-25
Updated: 2016-12-05
Packaged: 2018-09-02 04:06:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 7,986
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8650741
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fancylances/pseuds/fancylances
Summary: An innocent game of Solarion Chronicles gets out of hand when the gang find a mysterious book in the old community center. When the fantasy becomes reality, old heroes must return from retirement to train the people of the valley and bring peace once again.Rating changed for language.





	1. live action role play

**Author's Note:**

> This story branches off into AU territory somewhere between the chapters "the cliffs" and "the bouquet" in my original fic (A Pepper Blooms in the Valley), and while it's not completely necessary to understand the goings-on of this fic, it may contain inside jokes or references to characters/events in that story. Since Solarion Chronicles isn't a real game, I'll be leaning heavily on D&D to fill in the gaps. also, Pepper is still my favorite and I could write about her forever. enjoy!

It started out like any other game of Solarion Chronicles.

The community center smelled like old wood and moss, but Abigail had been the one to suggest the atmosphere of the pseudo-abandoned building would make the adventures more real. Pepper cleared some dried leaves from the floor, and Sebastian set the board game between the four of them.

“Come on, Seb,” Sam said, noodling on thin air, “you can’t be the wizard every time. Let Peps be the wizard. Or Abby.”

“Or you?” Sebastian cut in, eyes thin.

“Heck no,” Sam laughed. 

“If it helps,” Abigail added, “I don’t _really_ want to be the wizard.”

“You know, Sam kinda has a point,” Pepper said, brushing the hair out of her eyes (to the low tune of a long ‘yesss’ from Sam). “We always play the same characters every scenario. Sam’s the warrior—”

“The best warrior,” Sam murmured.

“I’m the healer,” Pepper continued. “Abby’s the thief. We should try mixing it up. Try being some other classes.”

“There are other classes?” Sam asked, eyes wide like he hadn’t been paying attention for the last three minutes.

“I don’t know,” Sebastian began warily, shuffling the scenario cards. “Only if everyone took it seriously.”

Abigail just laughed. Pepper held up both of her hands, even if the laughter was contagious. 

“Let’s just try it.”

“Yeah,” Sam chimed in, settling fully in beside the board. “Yeah, let’s get weird!”

“Pepper has to be the warrior,” Abigail said, grinning. 

Pepper’s face froze between pale and flushed. Sam shook her by the shoulders vigorously, holding out the character card for the warrior.

“Passing the torch!” Sam crowed. “Peps, I bestow on you the title of Warrior!”

Sebastian sighed at the display, holding out the wizard’s character card and handed it over to Abigail.

“There’s strategy to spellcasting, Abigail,” Sebastian warned her. “You can’t just sneak in like a thief.”

Abigail was too busy rifling through the box to find the rest of the character cards. “There’s so many we never use! Look at this… Bard, paladin, monk…”

“What’s a bard?” Sam asked, leaning over Abigail’s shoulder.

“They use song and verse to cast buffer spells,” Sebastian said offhandedly (like he’d memorized the entire rulebook).

“Whoa, whoa.” Sam said, sitting up rod-straight. “Seb. Buddy. There’s a _singing wizard_ in that box, and you never told me I could _be_ that _singing wizard?_ I thought we were friends, Sebbo.” He took the character card for the bard from Abigail’s hand and started reading over it fervently.

The farmer looked warily at the warrior card. “Was this a bad idea?”

“Bad idea,” Sebastian reiterated, taking the leftover character card for the healer from the ground. But there was something like a smile on his mouth. “Okay, who wants to draw the scenario for today?”

“Not it,” Sam said immediately, still reading. “I seriously need to brush up.” 

“Okay, okay,” Abigail moaned in a faux-beleaguered way. She drew the first card on the stack Sebastian had laid out. “The scenario today is… a horde of goblins has stolen the Scepter of Wonder and taken it back to their stronghold in the Silver Mountains…”

The wind billowed against the aged walls of the community center, and the four players struggled through their new roles in the scenario. Sebastian managed to keep everyone on track and in-character for the most part, although Sam did attempt to rush a goblin at one point and had to be rescued by Abigail’s wizard with a well-timed spell.

The sun dropped below the horizon, and the community center went cold quickly. By far the worst was Pepper as the warrior—never at the head of combat, always second-guessing her attacks, and actually resorting to asking Sam for fighting tips. In the end, they finished the scenario with a lackluster final hoorah against the goblins, though Sebastian’s healer was killed in the action (to which Sam sang a touching lament afterwards).

“That was a disaster,” Sebastian murmured, collecting the cards and miniatures.

“Yeah, kinda,” Sam admitted. “But it was also kinda fun. A fun disaster.”

“It wouldn’t have been so bad if I was a better wizard,” Abigail huffed, turning the character card over in her hand. Sebastian took it from her, stacking it with the others.

“We just need practice,” Pepper said, helping Sebastian pack up the rest of the board.

“I got it!” Sam said, clapping his hands together once.

“Another brilliant plan?” Abigail laughed.

“We can practice all week, then meet back here Friday night and kick some goblin butt!” Sam thumped a fist into the flat of his palm with conviction blazing in his eyes.

“How… What do you mean by practice?” Sebastian asked, narrowing his eyes. “Sam, are you talking about live action role play?”

“What?” Sam raised his eyebrows. “No, I just mean we pretend to be our new characters in real life all week. What are _you_ talking about?”

“Deal,” Abigail said immediately, putting her hand out between them. Sam clapped his hand on top of hers, grinning. Pepper shrugged wildly, plopping her hand on top of his. All three of them grinned at Sebastian, who pinched the bridge of his nose with a sigh.

“We’ll take it seriously, Seb,” Sam said, and put on his best serious face. “Promise.”

Sebastian tentatively added his hand to the pile. A smirk flashed onto his face. “You don’t know what you just got yourselves into.”

+++

They weren’t themselves that week.

Sebastian, usually aloof and cynical, became positively friendly. His voice was kind, inquisitive; a soft touch of his hand on a shoulder, a hand, actually smiling. 

Pepper—who always had a kind word, a shy smile, an honest face—turned loud and brash. She carried her borrowed sword around town, bragging about all the monsters she’d slayed to anyone who would listen.

Abigail straightened her back and walked with an air of majestic superiority. She spoke slowly, as if to those of a lower intelligence, and swept away importantly (murmuring about spell components and gemstones).

Sam… well, Sam was mostly still just Sam. A more flamboyant Sam that sang loudly and out in the open.

When they passed one another in the street, in the middle of the town, they met with flair. Pepper clapped Sam hard on the shoulder, laughing uproariously. Abigail waved a soporific hand to Sebastian, who bowed low. On the odd occasion, the four of them would meet in the town square and conspire, followed by loud adventures in the park, or along the mountain road, or through the woods south of Marnie’s ranch. Sebastian’s face was glowing, and he threw himself into the healer’s role with as much gusto as she’d seen in his eyes around the board—and it spread to all of them in a wave.

(Pepper heard Mayor Lewis mutter something about “the kids these days” and it took everything to not burst into out-of-character laughter.)

It came to a head that Friday at the saloon. Their party would meet and mingle in the local tavern before setting off on their next adventure—regrouping in the community center for one more stab at the game. 

Sam had his guitar slung backwards around his chest, the neck sticking up behind him like a quiver of arrows. Pepper had a hand on the pommel of her sword, leaning into it and grinning harshly. The people of Pelican Town shot them odd glances, especially when topics of goblins and magical scepters arose, but they were left alone for the most part.

Until Shane walked in, of course.

Pepper’s head shot up, and the bold warrior was gone in an instant—replaced by some lovesick fool with a loose, sappy grin. Abigail lost whatever sentence she’d been chewing on to a long line giggles on her friend’s behalf. She elbowed Pepper in the side.

“You’re staring,” she whispered, which made Pepper’s eyes shoot back to the group almost comically fast. “That’s not what the warrior would do, you know.”

“Yeah, well, what would the warrior do?” Pepper asked, eyes again locked on the newcomer in their midst.

“She’d go for it,” Abigail said, a gleam in her eyes.

“I’m… But I’m not _really_ a warrior,” Pepper half laughed, feeling her shoulders drop.

“You could try.”

So Pepper summoned up her inner warrior spirit, and she strode across the bar and right up to Shane.

“Hey!” she practically shouted, clapping him hard on the back. Shane barely had time to register that she was even in his space before she’d practically bowled him over, and by the time he’d recovered, she was beaming down at him in what she’d assumed was a roguish way.

“Woah, hey,” Shane coughed, rubbing at his shoulder and bending a worried look at her. “Nice night for an assault.”

She barked out a laugh, leaning heavily on the bar. In her periphery, Abigail had her face in her hands.

“Why don’t you join us?” She threw a thumb over her shoulder in the direction of her friends, who were all now huddled and planning their late night adventure. “I’m sure… I’m sure that…”

And the wind spilled out of her sails at the look he was giving her. He was still dazed from the hit, but more than that, he was _dumbfounded_. Looking at her like she was some other person entirely. Which, she realized with a hard blush spreading like fire across her face, she was.

“I’m sorry,” she murmured through the hand that she passed over her face. “I don’t know what I’m doing.” Her shoulders shook in barely-contained laughter.

When she looked back up, Shane had eased back into himself just as she did.

“What was that all about?” he asked, cocking his head at her (and just now noticing the sword at her side). “Uh… and what’s with the sword?”

“We’re… getting into character,” Pepper admitted.

“And what kind of character are you s’posed to be?” Shane almost laughed. “Wait, is this some kind of _weird_ roleplay I don’t want to know about?”

“No,” Pepper interrupted, going full red in the face. “No, no way, it’s… it’s a board game.”

Shane stared at her in silence for a long time. “What kind of board game?”

“Come on,” Abigail pleaded, eyes big and almost puppyish. 

“We just spent a week getting into character,” Sebastian hissed, careful not to be overheard by Pepper and Shane, who hung just outside their circle of debate. “And now you want someone completely unfamiliar with the game mechanics to just waltz in and play with us?”

“It’s like drawing a wild card,” Sam bolstered her, arm around Abigail’s shoulder. “It could be fun!”

“Seb, she’s got the _biggest_ crush on him,” Abigail said very strongly, and something of the wizard boiled up inside her, making her look more intimidating than before. “So help me, we are gonna be her wingmen and get that girl hooked up.”

And that was how Shane joined them in their special late-night game of Solarion Chronicles.


	2. the book

Shane looked quite uncomfortable. It could have had something to do with sitting on the hard wooden floor of the old community center, or maybe the drafty autumn chill in the air. Maybe it was because everyone else was all dressed up and in character, and he was just wearing some old jeans and a red hoodie, huddled up and squinting hard at the board.

“Isn’t it kinda hard to see what you’re doing?” he asked, glancing at the lantern they’d set five feet away.

“It’s called mood lighting,” Sam said, wiggling his fingers.

“Here,” Pepper said, taking a seat beside Shane (very close, in fact), and holding up a handful of character cards. “We’ve already got our characters picked out. Abby’s the wizard—”

Abigail stood and whipped off an invisible hat, bowing low.

“I’m the warrior,” Pepper went on, laughing.

“So that’s what the sword’s for,” Shane murmured, smiling sideways at her.

“Seb’s the healer—he casts spells specifically to make sure we don’t die.”

“And I’m the spinner of sweet songs,” Sam launched in, swinging his guitar around to the front and jamming a muted chord, pointing across the board at Shane. “Guaranteed to hook you up with some major buffs!”

“Uh,” Shane laughed. “Okay.” He scrubbed at his hair with one hand and took the proffered cards from Pepper. “I might need some help.”

Pepper ignored the way Sebastian rolled his eyes (Abigail elbowed him in the side for it) and she leaned in even closer to read the cards over Shane’s shoulder.

“Well,” she began, “we’re a little stacked with spellcasters. You could be another offensive class and help me on the front lines.”

“Yeah,” Shane said quite quickly (Sam snickered). “Sure, I mean.”

“Okay, there’s the paladin,” Pepper began. “He’s a holy man who fights in his god’s name. And then there’s the berserker…”

“Can’t say I’m much of a holy man,” Shane muttered, and he took the berserker’s character card. “This guy sounds more fun, anyway.”

“A blast at parties,” Sam chuckled. “So, Shane, you gonna draw the scenario card?”

Shane looked desperately at Pepper for help, and she drew the card for him, smirking. 

“This card tells us what adventure our characters are going on today. Sometimes it’s easy, other times we all get horribly killed.”

“It’s not usually easy,” Abigail supplemented, giving Pepper a subtle thumbs-up, heading to the lantern. She raised the level of light just enough for Shane to read his character card—and something caught her eye. A glimmer of dull brass in the dusty pile of leaves near the cold fireplace. 

When she returned to the circle around the board, Abigail was carrying a large book with her, pages notched and wrinkled with age. Sebastian’s eyes widened, and there was something like a smile on his face.

“What’s that?” Sam asked, leaning across the board to see.

“It’s a book, Sam. You read them,” Abigail said with a grin.

“Pff, I know what a book is,” Sam grumbled, plucking tunelessly on his guitar to play off the spreading pink in his cheeks.

“I found it in the corner over there,” she said, waving into the dim community center. “I thought it might make a cool prop for my wizard.”

Sebastian nodded, and that was all the approval they needed.

“I’m gonna suck at this,” Shane whispered to Pepper, reading his card intently.

“Just try to have fun, okay?” Pepper told him, and she laid a steady hand on his knee.

“Yeah, sure,” he gulped visibly. “Fun. I probably still know what that is.” But he smiled at her anyway (even if it was unsure and small, it was there). 

He cleared his throat and took the scenario card from Pepper, reading out loud: “The evil lich Qu'ron has kidnapped Princess Amara and hidden her deep in his magical labyrinth. You have two days to find her before the planets align and his ritual is complete.”

“Wow,” Sam murmured, looking a bit star-struck. “I’ve never played this one before. Sounds wicked.”

“No time to waste, then,” Pepper cut in, her warrior spirit surging up in her.

They were barely into the labyrinth before they were set upon by illusions and terrifying insect creatures. Shane got the hang of things surprisingly fast, but his character _was_ based on running in and swinging a club around wildly. Pepper backed him up with her silver sword, and Abigail read solemnly from the book in her lap to imitate the spells she fired at their opponents. Sam jammed through the whole fight.

The wind outside howled even more loudly than before, the old wood creaking and groaning and shuddering all around them. Abigail’s eyes were shining, but Sam didn’t seem to care for the atmosphere as much.

When Abigail waved her hand over the book and murmured the faded words for effect, the wind screamed back at her. Somewhere, there was a noise that seemed almost like distant windchimes in a minor key.

“You can hear the sad wailing of Princess Amara,” Sebastian read, his face serious and dark. “It’s almost time, the ritual is almost complete. The labyrinth fills with cold fog, and a chill runs through your bodies.”

Sam strummed on his guitar. “Don’t lose hope, everyone!” he crowed. “Can I sing something to get us all pumped?”

Sebastian nodded. But even Sam’s cheerful voice couldn’t overpower the noise of the gathering windstorm outside. There was a very real chill running through their group, suddenly, and Sam’s notes plinked off into silence.

“Uh,” Shane offered, “does this normally happen? The creepy stuff, I mean?”

Pepper shook her head, but then punched a fist into her palm. “Come on, the warrior wouldn’t be scared by the fog. It’s probably one of the lich’s tricks.”

“That’s the spirit, Peps,” Sam added, strumming again with a smile. Sebastian noted the way that Pepper returned that smile, and the way it made Shane’s shoulders dip down, but he didn’t say anything. 

They lost the scenario. They lost it rather thoroughly, with Abigail being killed off almost immediately by the lich’s horrible magic. Sebastian didn’t last long after that, and Sam went down trying to rouse the two fighters for one final charge. But the lich was too powerful for them, and both Shane and Pepper lost their lives to the withering touch of the lich sorcerer.

“With the only obstacle in his way vanquished,” Sebastian read from the failure scenario, “the evil lich Qu'ron is able to sacrifice the princess on the dark altar, bringing about a thousand years of darkness and evil on the land.”

“Yikes,” Shane breathed, mussing his own hair and wincing at the outcome. “Did we lose because of me?”

“No, that was a good game!” Pepper said, her smile bright and wide even in the darkness. “You don’t have to win to have a good game, right?”

Sebastian shrugged (he seemed much less annoyed than when the night began, and Pepper wanted to hug him for all he was worth because of it). “I like to win,” he said coolly, but not harsh. “We’ve never played with five people before. We should do it again some time,” he added at Abigail’s hard jab to his ribs.

“Thanks,” Shane said, moving to the door. “For inviting me, I mean,” he added.

“I’ll come with you,” Pepper offered, scrambling up off the floor and joining Shane at the door. “Night, guys!”

“Goodnight, Pepper!” Abigail called, keeping Sam rooted in his spot when he tried to scuttle off after them. “Goodnight, Shane!”

“What’s the deal?” Sam asked once the two of them had disappeared through the front door, shaking Abigail off of him. “I live that way, too. And it’s dark and stuff, it’s better to all go together…”

“Sam, you’re so oblivious, sometimes,” Abigail murmured, palming her face.

+++

“And then you got that bug right when it was about to take a bite out of Sam,” Shane laughed.

“So you had fun?” Pepper asked, looping her arm together with his, shivering in the wind and the cold.

She could feel the heat coming off of him. “Yeah. I mean, it’s not something I thought I’d ever be doing…”

“Having fun?” Pepper shot sarcastically, grinning hard when he rolled his eyes at her.

“Sitting on the floor in the cold and pretending to go on adventures,” he clarified. “I know how to have fun.”

“Oh yeah?” Pepper prodded.

Shane cleared his throat and didn’t say anything. Pepper laughed, and it was drawn away and into the sky by the swirling, pressing wind.

They came to a stop in the town square where they would part company. But they lingered, still attached at the arms, teetering on the edge of saying anything.

“Um,” Shane started, but the sentence didn’t lead anywhere.

“So,” Pepper began, and hung there in silence.

It was interrupted by a loud, shrieking noise that rent through the tempestuous, unceasing wind. Shane gripped suddenly and quite hard onto Pepper, the shock pressing them closer together as both of their heads whipped to face the direction of the new and terrifying noise.

It came from the Cindersap Forest, beyond Marnie’s ranch, and the way that Shane had been planning on walking home.

“What the hell…?” Shane breathed, not letting go or loosening his grip on Pepper. For her part, she held him tighter.

“What the _heck_ was that?!” came Sam’s voice from somewhere behind them.

And they both let go of each other in the same moment, like they were afraid to be seen so close—Pepper’s pink face an open book, and Shane tight-lipped and red. Sam rushed up between them, skidding to a stop and using Pepper’s shoulder as an anchor. 

“You totally heard that too, right?” he asked, looking between them. “That weird scream?”

“Totally,” Pepper murmured, and Shane nodded.

Abigail gave Pepper a sorry look as she approached as well (trying to convey by using eyebrow gestures that she’d been trying her hardest to leave them alone, but circumstances had obviously changed—a lot to say _just_ with her eyebrows).

“Did that come from the forest?” she asked instead.

“I’m gonna find out,” Pepper said, and she gripped Sam’s shoulder as she passed him. “You guys stay here, I’ll be back.”

“What?!” Sam shouted at her back, and the wind swept around and through them, pushing scrawny Sam backwards a step. “Peps!”

“Pepper!” Shane called after her, and, to the surprise of everyone there (mostly himself), he launched himself after her. “You’re gonna get yourself into trouble!”

Sam grinned at Abigail. “So, what, we’re gonna let them find all the trouble?”

It was dark, but the moon was bright enough to scare most of the stars out of the sky. The four of them approached the lake to the west of Marnie’s ranch, and it became immediately apparent was to where the strange noise had come from. Reflecting like colorful fireflies on the calm surface of the lake were myriad flashes of light, dancing in greens, reds, and blues. They reflected from the dark, imposing tower at the edge of the woods, windows blazing in rainbow bursts.

“It’s never done that,” Shane said, dumbfounded. He was pointing like they couldn’t all see the brilliant display.

Another loud shriek pierced the air, and Sam gripped hard at Abigail’s arm. She shook him off with an annoyed glance.

“What’s going on in there?” she whispered.

Pepper let out a breath, and turned to the three of them. “I guess I should tell you about the wizard.”


	3. M. Rasmodius, wizard

The door of the tower burst outward when Pepper approached (Sam made a tight, scared, hilarious noise and slapped both hands over his mouth). The wizard was a tall man, and the silhouette he cast in the doorway, lit from behind by those colorful bursts of light, was imposing to say the least.

He stepped out of the light and down the first two steps from his tower, and then he crossed his arms. They could see his eyes now, dark and knowing, and bitter. Old, older than he seemed. A frown buckled under his beard.

“You’ve done something,” he said heavily, looking directly at Pepper.

“I did…?” Pepper began, but he’d already whirled around.

“Inside. All of you,” he said tersely, and when no one moved, he shot them another glance over his shoulder.

Pepper hopped to attention, quickly moving up the stairs after him. Shane made a strange little noise, but he followed her. Sam uttered a little whimper behind his fingers, but Abigail (her eyes shining, curious, and wide) took him by the arm and pulled him along.

The inside of the tower was unusually warm, a jungle heat. The wizard strode to his cauldron, peered once inside, and moved just as quickly to the summoning circle he’d etched on the ground. Here was where the flashes of light were coming from—every few seconds, a shadow (a suggestion of movement, the hint of something hiding within that light) would appear in a burst of color, and then disappear again. The wizard rubbed at his beard in thought, his brows pressing his forehead into concerned wrinkles.

“Pepper,” he said, calm though pressing. “Tell me what happened tonight at the community center.”

Abigail’s face flushed full red.

“Excuse me,” she barged in, “but sir, were you _spying_ on us?”

Sam shook his head, tapping Abigail on the shoulder, trying to get her to take it all back. But the wizard just smirked at her, and there was a loosening of something in his shoulders.

“In a manner of speaking,” he told her gruffly. “I can peer into many places where the veil is thin. I apologize for my brusque introduction. You may call me Rasmodius, though most just call me Wizard.”

Abigail’s dander bled away, though her face was still pinched in concern. “Abigail,” she told him.

“I’m Sam,” Sam squeaked.

“I’m… really fucking confused,” Shane cut in, and Pepper heard a shaking in his voice.

“Language, please, young man,” Rasmodius rumbled, and that shut even Shane up like he’d been slapped. “I’ve seen you about, at the ranch near the foot of my tower—along with Pepper. I assume you’re her friends. She may not have the gift of magic, but her work with the Junimo proves she has at least one foot in the etheric realm.”

“Work with the whats?” Sam asked (now that the wizard had begun talking and not shouting down from a tower on high, he’d become less and less afraid—though he still hadn’t quite moved in through the front door).

Rasmodius tilted his head at Pepper, who had gone white. “You’ve not told them about the Junimo?”

Pepper shook her head. “Abby, if I told you about little creatures that lived in the community center that no one else could see or hear, would you believe me?”

Abigail shrugged. “You’re my friend, Pepper. I think I’d try.”

“Heck, after tonight, I’ll probably believe anything you tell me,” Sam croaked, finally coming up behind Pepper, as if trying to hide behind her.

“I still don’t believe it,” Shane bit in. Pepper wheeled around to face him; there was anger and confusion in his eyes, the result of which was a shaking in his voice and the spread of pink up his neck and into his ears. “A couple flashing lights and a weird hat doesn’t make you a _wizard_. If I can’t see it and touch it, it’s all just talk.”

He was directing that anger at the wizard, but it invariably hit Pepper, who stood between them. And when Shane saw the way her face buckled like she’d been slapped, he immediately dropped his expression into worried shock. “Pepper, I didn’t mean…”

The wizard was laughing. It was disconcerting.

“Very well, young man,” the wizard said. “There’s another of your friends that isn’t here, correct?”

Abigail nodded, Sam shook his head.

The wizard held up one hand, two fingers piercing the air, and there was a sudden flash of light and a noise almost like a thunderclap. He was gone.

“What the fuck—” Shane snapped, looking around like the man had fallen through a trap door.

Even in all the confusion, he managed to note that Pepper wasn’t surprised, not even a little bit. But she was still looking at _him_ (in that hurt, sad little way).

There was another sharp noise (like the tearing of fabric), another flash, and suddenly the wizard had reappeared. And he wasn’t alone. Clutched in one of his hands was the shoulder of Sebastian, who was dressed in his pajamas and shaking like a leaf.

“Seb!” Sam cried, and he flung himself forward to catch him when the wizard let him go. “Holy crap, dude! You teleported!”

“D-d-d—” Sebastian stuttered, eyes wide.

Rasmodius waved a hand at Sebastian and himself, a small motion directed at Shane.

“Is seeing indeed believing?” he asked calmly, a satisfied little smirk on his mouth.

Shane didn’t say a word. His eyes darted from the wizard to Sebastian to Pepper and back again in quick succession.

“So,” Rasmodius said after the long silence, taking it as tacit acceptance. “Please explain what happened at the community center this evening.”

While Pepper and Abigail took turns narrating the events of the game, Sam rubbed Sebastian’s arms and shoulders, warming the shivers out of him slowly. The wizard listened closely, nodding on occasion, and shooting sideways glances at Shane (who hadn’t stopped staring since he’d flashed out of existence).

“This doesn’t explain the disturbances I’ve felt in the ether,” the wizard murmured. “No petty game could stir the elementals into this fervor.”

“It’s not a petty game,” Sebastian cut in, looking intensely at the floor (recovering his speech, thankfully). “It’s Solarion Chronicles.”

“Regardless,” Rasmodius said brusquely, beginning to pace.

“Well,” Abigail said suddenly, and she flushed under the combined staring of five sets of eyes. “There’s the book.”

“Book?” the wizard said suddenly, freezing in place.

“Yeah, the prop I used for the game.” She dug around in the bag at her side (the rattling of change and shuffling of school books filling the silence). She pulled out the old book she’d found on the floor of the community center, and the wizard’s gaze went dark.

“May I see it?” he asked, and his gravelly voice was dense with apprehension.

Abigail handed it over, and the wizard weighed it carefully in both hands before he opened to the first page.

“This is an ancient tome,” he murmured, flipping gently through the delicate pages.

“How would you know?” Sebastian growled—the more he was accustomed to suddenly being in another place entirely, the more he seemed to be miffed about it.

“Because it was written by my master, the man who taught me the magic arts. There’s no doubt that whatever was read from these pages is the cause of the disturbances I’ve felt tonight.”

“It was just a game,” Shane stepped in, defending them. Abigail smiled, even if it was small.

“These words,” the wizard continued through him, pointing at the page he’d stopped on, “would have no meaning if not spoken by the tongue of a user of the magic arts.” Rasmodius narrowed his eyes seriously at Abigail, who quailed under the scrutiny.

“I’m… I’m not _really_ a wizard,” she wheezed, looking paler than usual. “I just… _play_ one.”

Rasmodius made a dismissive sniff, straightening his back and snapping the book shut. “I, however, _am_ a real wizard. I know the magic arts, and the ways of the elementals. This was no accident.”

“Well,” Sam cut in, and immediately quailed under the wizard’s sharp eye. “I mean, if she didn’t mean to do weird magic stuff, it’s still _technically_ an accident?”

“This is much more serious than you may believe,” the wizard said, though not in anger. He placed the book carefully on the nearest table, crossed his arms, and lowered his gaze in thought. “I must ruminate on the meaning of all of this. You should remain together, should I need to speak with you again.”

“Uh,” Shane began.

“Unless you wish me to fetch each and every one of you in the same manner as your friend,” the wizard added. Sebastian was already shaking his head furiously.

+++

Pepper rolled out her sleeping bag, and the sofa popped out into a small bed, but the pickings were still slim. She surveyed her living room with a wary eye, and then turned to her friends.

They were on edge. Sebastian’s eyes were tired and hollow, even though he’d recovered from the shock (for the most part; he still jumped when Sam laid a hand on his shoulder). Sam flinched at shadows, clinging close to Pepper’s side. Abigail was more pensive and quiet than Pepper had ever seen her, clutching her arms around herself and not meeting anyone in the eye. And Shane looked like the same irritated, solemn man she’d first met in the spring rain a million years ago.

Pepper sighed. She didn’t know if anyone was going to sleep tonight.

“Seb, you can have my bed. You’ve had a rough night.” She held his shoulder briefly, and he looked at her with a soft compassion she’d never seen before. “Abby, you can take the sofa-bed. Shane—”

“You’re not sleeping,” Shane cut in. It wasn’t a question, and he was annoyed about it. “You’ve got to sleep, too. _You’ve_ had a rough night.”

“I’ll be okay,” she told him, holding the sleeping bag out to him. “I pulled all-nighters in college before.”

“This isn’t _college_ ,” he spat (Sam jumped). “This is… some _weird shit_ , Pepper.”

“I’m not saying it isn’t.” Pepper puffed up defensively, back going straighter. “But I can handle it.”

He puffed up, too, anger and concern fighting in his eyes.

“She can handle it,” Sam said, and it was surprisingly firm for a man that had almost run from Pepper’s cat only minutes before. Sam held himself very tall (and, taller than Pepper, threw an even more intimidating shadow over Shane). “Peps, I can just take the floor, just throw me a pillow or something.”

When he moved to her linen closet with her, Sam shot a look over his shoulder at Shane: two fingers pointing to his own eyes, then jabbing back hard in Shane’s direction.

It didn’t take long for them to start dropping off like flies. Sebastian closed his eyes and fell asleep almost as soon as he sat on the sofa-bed against Sam’s shoulder (who shrugged, trapped, and stayed with him until he, too, fell into an uneasy sleep).

Abigail sat on the floor beside Pepper and Shane, talking quietly, until Pepper looked over to find Abigail curled up and asleep on the sleeping bag she’d been ready to offer to Shane again.

There was an opportunity, she realized as her eyes dragged their way up from Abigail’s sleeping form to where Shane sat beside her—as their eyes locked, and her open face betrayed her (of course it would).

Not tonight, she told herself (even as her face went fully hot and red, mind already tripping over itself in scenario after embarrassing scenario). Tonight was already too weird. She didn’t want to pile anything else on.

“Help me get some more blankets,” she said in a whisper, offering a hand once she’d stood. He took it and followed her into the bedroom.

Steven was curled up at the foot of the bed, and it was cooler and darker than the living room by far. Pepper ran a hand through her hair (ignoring thoughts intent on grabbing Shane by the front of his shirt and just mashing them together at the mouths).

“You can have the bed, Shane,” she said wearily.

He froze, mouth half open, and definitely not looking at her.

“Pepper,” he said finally, throat dry. For just a moment, just a little sliver of a second, he looked like he might say something more. But it disappeared when he stuffed those words back down his throat and rubbed wearily at his eyes. “I’m not tired,” he told her, plopping down on the edge of the bed. “Just… talk to me.”

“About what?” she murmured, perching beside him.

“Anything.” He sighed, falling back into her comforter and throwing an arm over his eyes. “What the wizard was talking about—the Junipers or whatever.”

He missed Pepper’s small, soft smile.

“Okay,” she said quietly. “And they’re called the Junimo.”

“Whatever,” he laughed.

She talked for barely seven minutes before Shane fell asleep, mouth open and breathing loudly. Pepper rose, threw a blanket over him, and moved out of the room to check on the rest of them (lingering just a little too long in her doorway, looking back at him, wanting to go back and…).

Pepper fell asleep at her kitchen table, leaning into her arms, Steven curled up on the floor at her feet.


	4. first attack

Pepper was the second one awake. Steven was the first, meowing and rubbing up against her ankles. She rubbed at her eyes, started her morning routine without really processing what she was doing—turned on the coffee pot, got Steven’s breakfast, brushed her teeth; all before remembering that her friends were all asleep in her house. 

Her toothbrush hung half out of her mouth, staring back at Sam’s sleepy face staring back at her. Sometime during the night, Sebastian had spread out and taken up almost the entire sofa-bed, kicking Sam all the way to one sliver of an edge.

“Hey, Peps,” Sam croaked, dark circles under his eyes already (had he ever been up this early in his life?). 

“Hey, Sam,” she somehow managed around the toothbrush.

“Did we all go crazy and dream about a wizard last night, or was that just me?”

Pepper deflated, returned to the bathroom to rinse her mouth out, and returned—towel in hand, wiping her face clean.

“It happened,” she told him. 

She helped him wriggle out of the sofa-bed and away from Sebastian’s sprawling limbs, and he helped himself to coffee.

“I don’t know what’s going on,” she told him, leaning over her coffee and breathing in the steam. “I don’t know if we have to worry about Mister Rasmodius appearing in the middle of my living room, or if he can take care of whatever it is by himself. I don’t—”

“Hey,” Sam cut her off firmly, taking her hand and squeezing. “Just take it easy. It’s weird, and we don’t know what’s gonna happen, sure. But I think you can handle whatever it is. You’re not a bad kid. And,” he added (both of their smiles bending wider), “I think it’s kinda wicked that you know an actual, real-life, no joke wizard.”

She laughed, small and quiet, squeezing his hand. “I don’t know if I’ve ever seen you so serious.”

He shrugged. “It’ll probably wear off.” Sam looked at her for a moment, and then his jaw dropped open at the same time his eyebrows screwed down tightly to twist his forehead into a knot. “ _Pepper._ ”

She blinked at him. “What?”

“Where’s Shane?”

She didn’t answer immediately, and she hated the heat crawling all over her face. “My bedroom,” she answered. “But—”

“Peps!” he whisper-shouted.

“Samson,” Pepper actually growled, and turned an even darker shade. Sam clapped a hand over his mouth, brows shooting back up. “I’m sorry,” she added quickly.

“I’m hurt,” he murmured from behind his fingers, though his tone was light.

“It didn’t… Nothing happened…” She fumbled around her own embarrassment.

Sam swept his hand away from his mouth to hold it up in the air between them, effectively quieting her.

“Look, Pepper,” Sam said with a sigh. “It’s none of my business, really. But you’re my friend. I know it’s kinda corny, but I just want to look out for you.”

Pepper leaned her head onto Sam’s shoulder, sighing and shutting her eyes (he was a much better pillow than the table). “I know.”

The door to her bedroom opened, and Pepper’s head shot up from Sam’s shoulder. There was an mishmash of expressions on Shane’s face, for once completely open and readable—exhaustion, embarrassment, concern, and, strangest of all, _jealousy_. Pepper sat up a little straighter under that look, even when he washed it away with a long sigh.

“Guess I _was_ tired,” he managed to say, and when he’d rubbed his tired face once, he returned with a smirk. “Coffee?”

Pepper had poured him a cup before he’d even made it to the table.

There was a strange clicking noise from outside the house. Loud enough to catch the attention of everyone around the table, loud enough to wake Sebastian and Abigail. Something shuffled through the dead leaves, clicking and sniffing.

“What the heck…” Sam whispered sharply.

“Maybe it’s the wizard,” Abigail murmured, standing (fully awake) and striding to the table.

“Maybe the hens got out,” Shane added, locking eyes with Pepper.

Sebastian rose from the sofa-bed wordlessly, and took a few strides until he was at the door. Sam made a worried squeaking noise, from somewhere behind Pepper, but she was already striding forward to meet Sebastian.

“Can you see anything?” she whispered.

“Something’s moving out there,” he said lowly. “It’s big. I don’t think it’s the wizard.”

Pepper took a sharp breath through her nose, nodded once. “Stand away from the door, okay, Seb?”

And she drew the sword from where she’d left it by the door. 

“Pepper!” Shane hissed after her, making a jerky motion as if to go after her, but Sebastian was already crowding all of them together away from the door.

She whipped open her front door, and even she couldn’t help the noise that came out of her. She’d seen things underground, strange creatures that buzzed and burrowed. But they were small, easily taken out with a few well-placed jabs of her sword.

There was a six-legged chitinous creature with mandibles the size of Pepper’s arm standing ten feet from her front door.

She made a hard, straight jab forward with her sword, and it pinged off of the oversized insect’s exoskeleton. It clicked at her, antennae twitching, and made a lunge. With a sloppy move, Pepper blocked with the sword, locking between the sharp jags of the creature’s mandibles.

Pepper fought, grimacing against the creature’s erratic movements, her muscles straining. Her heart was beating too fast for her brain to catch up to what exactly was happening. Some old and far-away memory clicked in her mind, and with one heavily-booted foot, she kicked the insect hard just under the eye. It reeled back with a sharp clicking, but it let go of Pepper’s sword.

“Pepper!” Abigail’s thin voice screamed from the doorway.

“What the _hell_ —” came Shane’s voice, too high and strangled.

“Guys, get back in—” Pepper started, but the creature had swarmed back up to her with a hiss.

Her front door slammed open, and it was Sam that charged out after her. He had his guitar slung around him, swinging the poker she kept by the fireplace.

“Sam!” Pepper shouted, slashing at the insect to steer it away from her friend. “What are you doing?!”

“I have no idea!” he screamed back, a blow from the poker glancing off the insect’s shell. “Helping, maybe?!”

The beast threw its head at Sam, knocking him to the ground, and reared back around to snap at Pepper.

A look of inspiration hit Sam’s face, and from his position flat on his back in the dirt and the leaves, he jammed out a hard, jarring chord on his guitar.

For just a moment, the insect screeched at the noise, turning its head to his vulnerable position. And, taking that distraction, Pepper lashed out and stabbed it through the eye—viscous black liquid spattered across the front of her, but she grimaced through it, shoving the blade further into the thing’s head.

The screams it made as it writhed under her were piercing in the beautiful, golden morning light.

As it lay dead at Pepper’s feet, her chest heaving with hard, well-deserved breath, she looked up at her friends.

Abigail looked like the sun was rising in her eyes, not over their heads, both of her hands clamped hard over her mouth. Sebastian’s was hanging loose and wide, his disbelieving and sleepy eyes staring at the carcass of the insect and Pepper’s sword sticking out of it.

Shane was absolutely unreadable. But he was looking right at her, his own breath coming in tight.

“Holy crap,” she heard Sam, breathless, still on his back and staring with starry eyes up at the brightening sky. “I’m a musical wizard.”

“Are you okay?” Pepper said suddenly, coming to a knee beside him and immediately checking for injuries.

“Am I _okay_?” Sam cried, throwing his arms up and looping them around Pepper’s neck to pull himself up into a victorious embrace. “Peps! That was, without a doubt, the _raddest_ thing I have ever seen in my entire life! What the _HECK_ is going on?”

“You’re bleeding,” Pepper shushed him, but there was a wide, pretty smile blooming on her face.

“I don’t care! You kicked so much butt! I think I’m a little in love with you! Holy _crap_!” Sam laughed.

Pepper carried him inside, and once she’d rooted through her bathroom cabinets for supplies, Sebastian helped her patch up the scratches on Sam’s elbows and forehead.

Abigail hadn’t moved from the doorway, staring at the dead creature, the ooze dripping from the fatal wound Pepper had inflicted on it.

“This is my fault,” Abigail said quietly.

“What are you talking about?” Sebastian growled, pressing a piece of gauze to Sam’s forehead.

“The wizard said I read something from the book,” Abigail started again, her pale face turning dark with nausea, with horror. “This is my fault. Pepper and Sam, you could’ve been hurt… Could’ve been _killed_...”

“Don’t say that.” It was Shane that cut in, but not harshly. For the first time since Pepper had burst through the door and gone after that thing, she could see actual emotion on his face. It was sympathy, etched deep into the lines of his forehead. “It’s not gonna help you to think like that.”

His eyes said everything, even Abigail could see that. He knew what he was talking about. 

Pepper had risen to her feet before she had time to think (adrenaline still singing in her, making her every thought turn to mush). She was almost all the way to Shane before there was a bright flash of light in the middle of her living room.

Rasmodius was standing there between them, two fingers in the air and smelling slightly of smoke.

“Pepper,” the wizard said urgently. “I came as soon as I felt—” He paused, turning to take all of them into his sight. 

“Well, look who finally decides to show up,” Sebastian snapped. “We could have used some help about five minutes ago when the enormous insect attacked us.”

“I am sorry, truly,” the wizard told him. “I was deep into the tome, studying it. I only realized what had happened when I felt the disturbance here on your farm.” 

“You know what’s going on?” Sam asked, attempting to sit up, but was forced back down by his nurse Sebastian.

“I am beginning to understand.” He swept back around to face Pepper, and he laid a heavy hand on her shoulder. “Bring your friends to the community center. I will meet you there. We have much to discuss. Bring the game.”

“The game?” Pepper asked.

Rasmodius nodded. “This Solarion Chronicles. Bring it. I apologize for keeping you in the dark, but I still do not have all the pieces. Please make haste.”

He moved away through the front door, and for once almost seemed like a normal human.

“Hold on!” Pepper called after him, but by the time she’d made it through the front door, both the wizard and the carcass of the insect creature were gone. Pepper’s sword lay on the ground, still wet with the blood of the thing she’d slain.

“I always wanted to go on an adventure,” Abigail breathed, lowering her gaze and wrapping her arms around herself. “But this isn’t… I didn’t want anyone to get hurt. I didn’t want this. I’m not—”

“I’m done,” Sebastian said darkly, leaving Sam on the sofa-bed and standing. 

“Seb,” Pepper began, but Sebastian moved by her without a word, stepping through the door and disappearing just like the wizard. 

Pepper didn’t realize that she was shaking until Sam wrapped an arm around her.

“Sebster ‘ll come around. You okay?” he asked, squeezing her harder.

“I don’t know,” she told him honestly, the only way she knew how.

“Well, whatever’s going on, I’m here,” Sam told her. 

Abigail nodded tightly. “I’m here.”

Shane took a breath, let it out slowly. “Yeah.”


End file.
